“What is the gamebreaker? Isn’t it this?” The white-robed man smiled and pointed at the chessboard on the ground.

At this moment, Long Chen was astonished, realizing that after being flipped, the chessboard had revealed an image.

The image was covered in interweaving lines, but he could tell what it was. The ring of blue was the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring, and the inside of the ring was the Central Plains. This chessboard actually depicted the Martial Heaven Continent.

The man waved his hand, and the chessboard transformed into dots of light that scattered. “I’ve been studying this chessboard for a long time. I’ve examined countless possibilities to break out of it, yet not a single path worked. But you, you broke the board with a wave of your hand. I’m ashamed.”

“Senior, this little one was just messing around. I really just don’t know how to play chess,” said Long Chen with embarrassment.

“Whether or not you know how to play chess isn’t important. What’s important is that you dare to break convention. That’s what’s most important. The reason I was unable to break the board was because I’m limited by the rules. I wholeheartedly wanted to protect the white pieces, so I was forced to be passive everywhere. But you killed the black pieces with the white pieces. Just this one point is far beyond me,” said the white-robed man. “Tell me, why do you like the color black?”

Long Chen was dumbfounded. How was he supposed to answer such a question? If you liked something, then you liked something. Did there have to be a reason?

“White represents what is light and holy. It shows the way. Black represents destruction and killing. It signifies the end. So I’m very surprised to see you wearing black robes. But now I understand, the gamebreaker needs to reach a land of death before giving rise to new life. Ah, some things are so simple and right in front of you. But they’re like your eyelashes, and they’re so close that you can’t see them. Sometimes you can only see things clearer when you have a mirror. Good, very good,” sighed the white-robed man emotionally.

Although this man didn’t give off the slightest aura, each of his actions possessed a certain bearing that made others trust him. Despite being a Sovereign, he spoke bluntly about his own shortcomings. Just that humility was enough to win Long Chen’s praise.

Although Long Chen’s skin was so thick that it was on the level of an Ancestral item, he felt a burning sensation on his cheeks. He shook his head. “Junior wouldn’t dare to accept Sovereign’s praise. There are so many things I don’t know that it makes me blush with shame.”

“Sometimes knowing more isn’t necessarily a good thing. Imagination is always ahead of reality. Reality has to chase the footsteps of imagination. Without imagination, this world would never progress a single step.”

The white-robed man didn’t retort when Long Chen called him a Sovereign. Now Long Chen was certain that this man in front of him was the first generation Sovereign, Yun Shang.

He was talking with an expert who had shaken the world. A grand feeling filled Long Chen. Furthermore, many of Sovereign Yun Shang’s viewpoints and philosophies were similar to his own. He couldn’t help but feel that they were old friends.

“Senior, do you want to drink a bit?” Long Chen took out a jug of wine. This was currently his best wine. It was the first batch of wine that Tu Qianshang had made after advancing to the Life Star realm. Other than the High Priest’s wine, it was definitely the best.

To be able to drink with the first generation Sovereign, Long Chen would definitely be able to brag in the future. That was like drinking with a god! When he bragged about it in the future, he might not even believe himself!

“No, a person who’s been dead for so many years shouldn’t waste your wine.” Sovereign Yun Shang smiled.

“What?” Long Chen couldn’t help being shocked. Even Sovereigns could die?

According to reason, by that level, a person should have essentially reached the point of never aging or dying. Their longevity would be almost limitless!

The Sovereigns had vanished from the continent. But the rumor was that they had simply hidden themselves, secretly protecting the world.

When the next dark era descended, the Sovereigns would once more appear and lead them against the devils invading them.

But now Sovereign Yun Shang had admitted he was dead from his own mouth. That was somewhat difficult for Long Chen to accept.

“You’ll understand in the future. Life and death aren’t actually important. What’s important is the final result. Junior brother, I’m very happy to have seen you. You will definitely be the one to save the Martial Heaven Continent from this game of death.” Sovereign Yun Shang patted Long Chen on the shoulder.

From start to end, Sovereign Yun Shang didn’t have the slightest arrogance, nor did he act like a supreme expert. Rather than the leader of an era, he seemed more like a respectable big brother speaking to his little brother.

“You overestimate me. Right now, I’m surrounded by enemies. I can’t even save myself.” Long Chen felt emotional that Yun Shang would treat him like this, but he also couldn’t help but bitterly smile. He had yet to recover from his shock that a Sovereign had died.

He very much wanted to ask, couldn’t a Sovereign undergo reincarnation? Couldn’t they undergo nirvanic rebirth? Wasn’t it said that once a person reached the Netherpassage realm, they would comprehend the profundities of life and death?

Now that he looked at Sovereign Yun Shang, Long Chen felt extremely unwell inside. Such a peerless hero had actually died. That was a great pity.

Then when he thought about it, if a Sovereign was still alive, perhaps the Martial Heaven Continent wouldn’t have fragmented into contending powers that had turned the world into such a mess.

“That was a decision you chose with your instincts. Your path is different from ours. To be surrounded by enemies is also a kind of Dao. We were unable to play this chessboard well. If we had tried to be like you, wiping out black and white pieces together, perhaps this world would be in a different state. However, there aren’t so many ifs in this world. Back when I suppressed Evilmoon, I saw a bit of the future and your image. So I decided not to destroy Evilmoon. Instead, I sealed it, using a drop of my Spirit Blood to keep it suppressed. I left a portion of my soul in my Spirit Blood for your arrival. And now, you really have come. In my day, I saw many bits of the future, and the conclusions were all miserable. The continent was fractured, corpses littered the ground, blood flowed in rivers, and all life was annihilated. This place became a graveyard. But this time, I see hope for the Martial Heaven Continent. I see the slightest opportunity when I look at you. But I didn’t expect that another person who could affect the fate of the Martial Heaven Continent would appear. A girl took away Evilmoon’s soul essence. That was originally a gift I had prepared for you. The Heavenly Daos really are unfathomable. However, seeing you, I’m at ease. We were unable to accomplish our mission, so we have no choice but to leave it to you.”

A girl? Was it Leng Yueyan? No wonder she hadn’t appeared here. She must have found another opportunity. Could it be that the thing she needed was precisely Evilmoon’s soul essence?

“This burden’s very heavy. I’m afraid I won’t be able to carry it.” For now, Long Chen didn’t worry about Leng Yueyan. He bitterly smiled at Sovereign Yun Shan. How was he supposed to become the savior of the world? He had never had such aspirations. He wasn’t skilled in saving the world. He was better at exterminating the world.

“You picked up this burden a long time ago. The people you love are your motivation for fighting. I trust you will do better than anyone else. Alright, I’ve pretty much used up all the energy in this drop of essence blood. I have to leave. But before leaving, I’ll help you out a bit. I’ll help you seal Evilmoon’s soul. For now, you won’t be able to use it, so just treat it as a gift for your future self.”

After saying this, Sovereign Yun Shang vanished along with the space around then, and Long Chen appeared on the altar once more, holding Evilmoon’s hilt.

“Die!”

At this moment, Sha Guangyan and Peng Wansheng launched fierce attacks at him.

“Wood Spirit Protection!” Chu Yao’s cry rang out.

The ground split open, and huge wooden stakes wove together to form a huge wall.

This wall was made of thousands and thousands of wooden stakes. Each of them was thirty meters thick and covered in dark gold runes, and the wall was made of hundreds of layers of them. Chu Yao was going all-out to protect Long Chen.

Just at this moment, the drop of Sovereign blood in the sky fell onto the black saber. The saber let out a heaven-shaking roar and then fell silent.

A banging sound rang out and the wooden wall shook violently. Debris was flying everywhere as Peng Wansheng and Sha Guangyan attacked.

“Long Chen, hurry! The two of them are too powerful for me to hold much longer!” cried Chu Yao.

Long Chen didn’t need Chu Yao’s urging. He was pulling as hard as he could, but the saber was too heavy. It was like it had taken root.

“Get out!” Long Chen roared furiously. His divine ring appeared and green scales covered his body. Finally, the stone broke, and Evilmoon was pulled out.

After pulling it out, he tossed it into the primal chaos space. When it fell inside, it let out a heavy thudding sound. Its weight was absolutely terrifying.

For now, he had no time to worry about it. A golden flame sphere rapidly grew in his hand.

On the other side of the wall, Peng Wansheng and Sha Guangyan were roaring angrily as they attacked the wooden wall. The thing that infuriated them the most was that Chu Yao’s wooden wall possessed its own life energy and was constantly repairing.

Now they were experiencing the abnormal defenses of a wood cultivator. Hearing Long Chen’s roar inside, they both had a bad feeling. They no longer held back and unleashed their strongest attack.

A sand hand and a golden sword slammed into the wooden wall, causing it to instantly explode.

Yet, before they could get a look at the situation inside, a huge golden sphere exploded like a star in front of them.

BOOM!

The two of them hadn’t even understood what was happening when they were sent flying by a terrifying force. Worst of all, they were covered in golden flames that ignited their bodies.

It wasn’t just the two of them. The sphere’s explosion covered a huge area, and those rank nine Celestials that had survived were also swallowed by it.

“Fuck, what kind of flame is this?!” raged a rank nine Celestial. It felt like oil was stuck to their bodies and they couldn’t get rid of it. They were only able to circulate their Heavenly Dao energy to slowly extinguish it.

Once the flames were extinguished, they looked like birds that had flown out of the fire. Other than their eyes, they were completely black, and a burned smell came from them.

“Where are they?!”

Sha Guangyan roared, his killing intent raging. A thousand miles in every direction had been turned to charred land, but Long Chen and Chu Yao had vanished. Of course, the black saber had vanished as well.